The Costco Crap Christmas Caper

We had a party last night.  We are LOOOONG overdue for this party.  Actually, we were supposed to have it almost a year ago when we finished our guest bathroom renovations.  So, we have this big roomy shower and decided it would be FAR too much fun to take pictures in it.  So, we finally got out you-know-what together, went to Costco where we bought lots of heavy pupus. For those of you not here... that's lots of appetizers. 

 The Bruce and Bhaltair had fun until The Bruce's Christmas Hat got broken.  He was distraught until I fixed it this morning and now he's all happy again.  Then one of our unnamed friends broke a glass of red wine on our white couch.  I am here to tell you that it all came out and you'd just never know the was ever a spill.  Who ever heard of such a thing?  But those were the only 2 disasters and happy endings were all over the place!  The Bruce and Bhaltair got into the shower pictures but Ipo was on the lanai and not too happy that she wasn't in at the party!  We relented and let her in, tho.  So, enjoy our shower pictures!  :D

The Cooking Christmas Crackers Caper

Hah.  My Hunnibunni went to California this morning so while the cat's away... the mice made crackers!  We are having a party on Saturday so I thought having homemade crackers sounded good.  YUM!  They came out great.  Golden flax seed/onion/Italian parsley crackers.  I never made crackers before.  I hope I don't eat them all before Saturday!  :D

Anubis the Red Nosed Jackel

We have a statue if Anubis and one of a griffin in our living room.  Brian decided they needed red noses to be festive.  So, I made them out of clay which I then rolled in glitter.  Too cute!  :D  I can only hope that the ancient Egyptian gods don't take umbrage.

Other Weird Things

While I am on the subject of strange things happening to my vacuum and other oddities of machinery, I just gotta tell you about Westinghouse.  Not only am I computer challenged but I'm also Westinghouse Challenged.  WHAT?! You ask?  This woman is crazy!  But... true stories.  

About college age I discovered that I was unable to use anything made by Westinghouse.  Now, this was a problem as things like light bulbs are made by them.  And stoves and things.  For the longest time I thought it was the problem of the appliance or bulb when I would think something was broken but a friend could work it just fine.  Ok, this is strange but not life threatening unless you own Westinghouse stock.  

So, it got worse and worse.  When I got married the first time I got several Westinghouse small appliances.  None of them worked.  For me.  My new husband had no problem.  Eventually we had to exchange them all.  

Years went by, I got divorced and for some odd reason was living in Omaha.  There was a brand new apartment building and I wanted to rent a unit so I made an appointment and went to meet the lady showing the units.

We walked into the kitchen and yep. Everything was Westinghouse.  I sighed and told the lady, I can't live here.  She asked why and I said, the kitchen is Westinghouse.  I can't make anything Westinghouse work.  She said... no, no!  it's all brand new, see?  She scurried around the kitchen flipping light switches and stove knobs and opening the fridge and stuff.  Yep, everything worked perfectly.  She is standing there beaming all over me.  I was bummed I had to prick her Happy Balloon but I said... watch.  I flicked the light switch.  Nothing.  No light.  She races over.  The light works fine.  We stood there like a comedy team trading, it works, it doesn't.  I showed her the stove, the fridge and everything else that was Westinghouse did not work if I used it.  She slowly starts backing away.  I can see in her face she now thinks I am possessed.  :)  I tried to explain it was Westinghouse that was possessed.  She wasn't buying it.  I left and found another non-Westinghouse infected kitchen.  Sigh.

Now, my best pal Annie (RIP, Annie) always thought it was a scream that nothing made by Westinghouse worked.  She used to entertain her kids with... Watch!  Moe can't make this work!  Toast.  Her kids could make toast but I couldn't.  

So, many years go by and I have mostly forgotten about my Westinghouse plague.  I am back in Buffalo for a visit and I am driving out somewhere near the airport where there is also a giant (shudder) Westinghouse  plant.  Oh boy.

Now, I hadn't thought about my Westinghouse malady for a long time so I am cheerfully driving along, singing a merry tune when BLAM!  The entire Westinghouse plant goes dark the second I drive past.  I have NO idea what happened because I hadn't been in Buffalo for years and had no idea what that plant was.  Then I saw the sign.  My nemesis!  Sure enough I blew out the Westinghouse plant.  

The second I got to my mother's place, the phone was ringing.  It was Annie.  First thing she says is...It was you.  I KNOW it was you.  Were you near the Westinghouse Plant?  You come to Buffalo and blow out their plant! She was hysterical laughing.

I confessed I was driving by.  I mean, do I have to be afraid that they are going to come after me?  Will they sue for all the money they lost while their power was gone.  Couldn't have been too bad, though.  I was only driving by!  Really Officer!  I didn't MEAN to blow out 10 gazillion square acres of Westinghouse!

I have recently noticed... the Westinghouse Curse seems to be dissipating.  I have no idea why but the other day I was actually able to use a Westinghouse appliance!  Not mine... naturally, but a friend's.  It worked!  I am still afraid of them.  :D

The Good News/The Bad News

We all like good news so I will start with that.  My friend had asked for some special beads and I couldn't find them so I was looking at every bead site in the world when I came upon a company called Brass Bouquet.  They had gorgeous brass beads, stations, ear wires, and more.  I emailed them to see if the shipping included Hawaii.  You just don't know how many times I get hit with.. Hawaii?  That'll be another billion dollars in shipping.  :(

Anyway, I got an immediate answer from BB and lo and behold... no hidden shipping costs!  YAY!  I ordered a bunch of goodies.

Today my order came.  Their stuff is wonderful!  Really!  Just beautiful brass beads and end caps and lots of cool things.  All of it is made perfectly and made me want to go order more! 

So, I say, go take a look!  www.brassbouquet.com.  They sent me a free present, too.  And you all know how I just LOVE presents!  I have to go and put them in my shopping list so anyone who looks here can find them here but first I have to give the bad news.  :(

I love mail order catalogs.  In all the years I have been ordering from them, I can say that I have rarely, if ever, had a problem.  And I NEVER had one totally ignore me.  Until now.  Acacia.  If you have even the slightest inkling that you might want to order from these people, I say... DON'T DO IT!  Never order from Acacia.  Here is what happened.  

I ordered 2 trays.  I paid for them and $9.95 in shipping.  About two weeks after I ordered, I received ONE tray.  I promptly called and spoke to a very nice woman who said she'd send me the other tray.  Fine.  Mistakes happen. That's ok.  Another two weeks go by and I receive my second tray.  Great.  Until I look at my invoice.  They are charging me $5.95 for shipping.  Yep. They made a mistake and are charging me for it.  I called.  I called and I called.  To date, I have spent a grand total of 23 minutes on hold waiting to talk to someone.  I sent emails.  All of which have been ignored.  Then today I get my Visa bill.  Yep.  You guessed it.  Despite all my emails, they still charged me another $5.95 for shipping.

So, to combat this deplorable service and attitude, I am telling everyone who will listen that Acacia is ripping me off.  If they do this to everyone, can you imagine the amount of money they make?  Acacia stinks.

Now, I know you are all saying, dispute this charge.  I will.  And I will take my invoices to the bank where I have written down all the information, including the name of the person I spoke with.  But, I do want you all to know that Acacia is a lousy company to treat a customer this way.  This is just my way of fighting back.  If they won't listen to a legitimate complaint, then I will announce their practices.  Please don't order from this company... Acacia.  They stink.

Missing Parts

Oh brother.  My vacuum cleaner is possessed.  Either that or Scotty has beamed up an important part while I was standing around looking stupid.  Should there possibly be anyone out there who doesn't know who Scotty is... Google Star Trek.  The original Star Trek.  None of these imposters.  :D

Back to my vacuum. We are having a party on December 20th, right?  Right.  Bright and big brained human that I am, I decide I will get out above mentioned vacuum and do some of the heavy stuff... like the baseboards and the upholstery, etc.  So, I am cheerfully vacuuming away. We also have wood floors with some rugs.  Naturally, the wood needs one kind of attachment that some perv in vacuum cleaner advertising decided to call  Maid In A Box.  Now... WHAT were they thinking?  Maid in a box?  Really.  That's its name.  Filter Queen is in dire need of a new product namer.   I will ask Santa to send them one.  Maid in a box.  Jeez.

Back to my vacuum.  Ok, I vacuum all the baseboards and the furniture and remove about 476 pounds of cat hair from every surface I can.  Then I put on the Maid In A Box.  I vacuum all the hard floors.  I take OFF the MIAB and put it into its bag that it lives in inside the utility closet.  

I did not go to the bathroom, I did not talk on the phone, I did not go out to lunch, I did not stop to chat with the neighbors, I merely removed the MIAB and put it into the bag it lives in. Then, I go to put the rug attachment (which, oddly, doesn't seem to have its own name) and lo and behold... it has transmorgrified itself and the metal tube thingy no longer fits into the non-maid in a box.  WHAT!?  

WHAT has just occurred?  This is some universal joke, right?  I already vacuumed with the non-MIAB.  I used it!  It fit the pipe, tube, metal thingy just fine!  Now, all of a sudden, it doesn't fit.  Really.  The two ends of the non-MIAB and the metal tube thingy are all of a sudden, mysteriously the same exact size now.  Why me?

Ok, I think... something is amiss here.  Perhaps the evil MIAB somehow ate part of the attachment and it is still stuck onto it?  I toddle off to look.  Nope.  MIAB is sitting in her bag doing nothing.  It has no odd pieces attached.  I search the bag.  Nothing.  I KNOW that this is SOS's fault except... for once, she is sound asleep in my closet and couldn't have done anything. But, being Ipo I think maybe she has osmosed herself through the wall and stolen a vital part of my vacuum cleaner.  Nope.  She is asleep.

I sit on the floor and take the whole thing apart.  I KNOW there is an answer.  Half hour later, there IS no answer.  My vacuum is possessed and has consumed part of itself.  Now I can no longer vacuum unless I want to get down on my hands and knees and clean our 1300+ square foot condo with the brush attachment.  Highly unlikely.

Now, I know there are any number of you who are thinking... oh, it just fell off and you'll find it. HAH!  I am the Anal Retentive Queen of the Universe!  A place for everything and everything in its place is my motto!  No spare vacuum cleaner parts will wallow unnoticed in my home.  I can spot a cat whisker where it doesn't belong.  No way a hunk of Filter Queen is laying around.

So, you ask... what happened?  Nobody knows.  It is one of life's little mysteries.  Up there along with Sputnik is now orbiting part of my vacuum cleaner.  My poor long suffering Hunnibunni will now have to drag me and the evil vacuum into town so the FQ guys can put on another part.  I will insist that they super glue it on.  Maybe some duct tape for extra security? 

I will take Maid In A Box.  She needs an outing. 

Awards and Other Fun Stuff

Katie, that little sweetie from Katie's Clay Corner, passed on an award! To me! Wow! I am so excited! If you will toddle over to Katie's blog, she will tell you about it. I'm not sure how to tell the whole story but the award is for cool things and cool people who create. So, I am to pass it on to, also. I can do that!

Ginger; www.gingerbellsgifts.etsy.com

Kathi; www.dragonsglass.com

Dawn; www.calyscreations.com

Chris; www.bubblyart.etsy.com

Jainnie; www.littlebear.etsy.com

Stormy; www. stormydesigns.etsy.com

I hope I have everyone's addresses right! If not... look over there>>>>>> they are listed. :) And Katie... thanks a million for changing your background! Now, not the one you grew up in... the one on your site. :D xoxo

Old Friends

A wonderful thing happened today!  My phone rang and it was a girlfriend I haven't heard from in years!  I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to hear from her.  We were best of friends for many years then life intervened and we lost touch.  Thanks to her diligence, we are now back in touch and I am thrilled.  Trish is the sweetest person you can possible imagine.  I missed her and I'm glad she's back!  We used to terrorize Omaha when I lived there.  :D  Grand fun we had!  And she is a cat lover, too!  What more could anyone want?  Hugs to you, Trish!

Pueo

I was trying to post this yesterday but I couldn't get the picture.  Maybe today will be better luck.  :)  Pueo is the Hawaiian word for *owl*.  Brian loves pueo so I made him an owl.  Except I put it on my Etsy.  :D